Full details of works mentioned in the notes that follow appear in the Bibliography (see here).
Diana’s early childhood years and this first journey to Althorp were reconstructed though a combination of interviews conducted by myself in Great Brington with long-time residents and former staff members at Althorp, present staff at St. Mary’s, Great Brington. The Spencer family history was drawn from numerous sources: The History of the Althorp and Pytchley Hunt, Guy Paget; The Spencers of Althorp, Georgina Battiscombe; A Short History of Althorp and the Spencer Family, W. E. K. Spencer; A Spencer Childhood, Margaret Douglas-Home.
Books that were used for the information in this chapter were: Marlborough’s Duchess, L. Kronenberg; King’s Lynn, Paul Richards; Aspects of Brington, Stephen Mattingly; Spencer House (published by the estate). Interviews were granted me by the people of King’s Lynn, Great Brington, former staff at Sandringham, and Janet Filderman.
“his more conventional neighbours …”: Mattingly.
“never to turn his head …”: Raine & Johnnie, Angela Levin.
“the wedding of the year:” Daily Mail, 28 May 1954. Other resources for this coverage: Daily Telegraph, 2 June 1954; The Times, 2 June 1954; Daily Mail, 2 June 1954.
Background on the Work family: archives at the public library, Chillicothe, Ohio; also, Genealogists,’ June 1981, vol. 20, no. 6.
Books used for this chapter: Royal Sandringham, Philip Hepworth; Royal Sisters, Anne Edwards; Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor, Anne Edwards; The Spencers of Althorpe, Battiscombe; Diana, Her True Story, Morton.
Much of the material for this chapter was drawn from interviews with former staff at Park House and residents of King’s Lynn.
“crying in his bed …”: Diana: Her True Story—In Her Own Words, Andrew Morton.
“Lady Di,” three-part series by Alison Miller, Sunday Times Magazine, part I, 5 July 1981.
“crammed full …”: The Spencers of Althorp, Battiscombe.
My appreciation to the people of Diss for their recollections of the years that Diana was at Riddlesworth Hall, to members of St. Margaret’s Church, former and present employees of the Duke’s Head Hotel in King’s Lynn. Books used for reference were: King’s Lynn, Paul Richards; Savage of King’s Lynn, D. Braithwaite.
“in the school hall …”: Miller, part 2, 12 July, 1981.
“in mid-air …”: ibid.
“I ate and ate and ate …”: Morton.
“Well, of course …”: interview with former ladyfriend of Earl Spencer, Diana’s father.
Background material on Raine Dartmouth: Raine & Johnnie, Levin.
Books used for reference for this chapter were: The Spencers of Althorp, Battiscombe; Queen Anne, David Green; The British Monarchy at Home, J. A. Frere; Royal Family and the Spencers, 200 Years of Friendship, Nerina Shute; Spencer House; Diana in Private, The Princess Nobody Knows, Lady Colin Campbell; Raine & Johnnie, Levin; and Diana, The True Story, Morton.
“accidentally find us …”: Morton.
“Lord Spencer is in bed …”: Levin.
“I’d sooner take residence …”: ibid.
“It was such a quiet wedding …”: Daily Mail, 16 July 1976.
“My sister [Sarah] was all over him …”: Morton.
“He came up to me …”: ibid.
Also my thanks to Great Brington’s residents for their co-operation.
Books used for reference in this chapter were: Eating Disorders, Hilda Bruch; The Golden Cage—The Enigma of Anorexia Nervosa, Hilda Bruch; The Secret Language of Eating Disorders, Peggy Claude-Pierre; The Prince of Wales, Jonathan Dimbleby; Charles, Prince of Wales, Anthony Holden; Raine & Johnnie, Levin (Lord Spencer’s stroke and illness; the sale of Althorp’s treasures); The Royal Palaces, Philip Howard; Royal Sisters, Edwards. Archival material: The Spencer Family Archive, British Library.
“Next day the telephone rang …”: Morton.
Books used for reference in this chapter were: A Thousand Years of British Monarchy, Arthur Bryant; Majesty: Elizabeth II and the House of Windsor, Robert Lacey; The Tarnished Crown, Anthony Holden; The Prince of Wales, Dimbleby; H. R. H. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh: A Portrait by His Valet, John Dean; Monarchy: Behind the Scenes of the Royal Family, Brian Hoey; The Reality of Monarchy, Andrew Duncan; The Duke: Portrait of Prince Philip, Tim Heald; Royal Sisters, Edwards; School Ties, William Boyd; The Selling of the Royal Family, John Pearson.
“For me, by far …”: Dimbleby.
Books used for reference in this chapter were: The Prince of Wales, Dimbleby; Diana: In Her Own Words, Morton; Balmoral Castle: The History of a Home, Ivor Brown.
“I still can’t believe …”: Charles’s journal entry, quoted in Dimbleby.
Both Charles and Diana later discussed their early meetings with the press and with BBC Television interviewers during their engagement. Some of their quotes “bouncy, young teenager …”: etc. come from those interviews.
Books used for reference in this chapter were: Royal Service, Barry; The Prince of Wales, Dimbleby; Charles, Prince of Wales, Holden; Raine & Johnnie, Levin; Diana: In Her Own Words, Morton. Also The Times, 5 February 1981.
“I must call Mummy …”: Morton.
“Can I marry …”: Levin.
“Such exciting news …”: ibid.
It is also based on conversations I had with Stephen Barry, Prince Charles’s valet at the time of his engagement and marriage to Diana, when we were both on tours in the US in 1984 promoting our recent books. Some of these conversations were in the form of taped interviews for a book I was then beginning (Royal Sisters). Barry was very anti-Diana and pro-Camilla: he felt his situation would be endangered by the Prince of Wales taking a wife.
Books and reference material used for this chapter were: The Prince of Wales, Dimbleby; Royal Sisters, Edwards; The Queen’s House, Compton Mackenzie; The Little Princesses, Marion Crawford, also interviews I had with Miss Crawford for Royal Sisters; Charles, Prince of Wales, Holden; Diana: In Her Own Words, Morton; Diana in Private, Campbell.
“just pushed …”: Diana, BBC Panorama Interview, November 1995.
“You are not going to hunt …”: Morton.
“Don’t worry, it will get a lot worse …”: The Grimaldis, Edwards.
“I don’t think …”: Morton.
“You understand …”: Daily Mail, 24 July 1981.
“Prince Andrew tied one …”: Campbell.
“Everybody got terribly drunk …”: guest at ball.
Diana and Charles’s public appearances in the last days before the wedding were reconstructed with the aid of daily reports in several of London’s newspapers—The Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, and Evening Standard. Also interviews with one of Diana’s close friends at the time of her engagement, as well as one of her cousins.
Some observations in this chapter were taken from my own notes when I covered the wedding for the Gannett Newspapers in July 1981. Tiered banks of seats had been built for the press in the north-east and south-east aisles of the cathedral. Press had to be in their seats by nine a.m. (the service started at eleven), other guests by ten (with the exception of the Royal Family, wedding party and Royal guests from other countries).
Articles and interviews (Barbara Daly, the Emanuels, Doris Welham, Kevin and Claire Shanley) in the Sunday Times, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Observer, Guardian, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, and Country Life Royal Wedding Number (30 July 1981) enabled me to chronicle the days just before the wedding, the day of the wedding and the wedding itself.
“Father was so thrilled …”: Morton.
The opening paragraphs of this chapter owe much to an interview with one of Diana’s closest friends. The memory of her wedding night and the next morning were recalled several years later.
Stephen Barry’s Royal Service was extremely helpful in writing the paragraphs dealing with the honeymoon cruise. Additional assistance was given by members of the personal staff.
Tour to Wales re-created with the help of articles in The Times, Sunday Times, Time magazine, and reports in Dimbleby and in Charles, Penny Junor. My appreciation as well to the confidential conversation about the tour and several other matters with a former member of the Princess of Wales’s staff.
“I saw something …”: private interview.
“she stooped …”: Dimbleby.
Stair incident: private interview; also Diana: In Her Own Words, Morton.
“things had degenerated …”: Diana in Private, Campbell. Kensington Palace: Royal Sisters, Edwards; Kensington Palace, Derek Hudson; Inside Kensington Palace, Andrew Morton; also interview descriptions, Anthony Holden, Janet Filderman.
“felt extremely …”: Dimbleby.
The major sources used as reference in this chapter were: The Secret Language of Eating Disorders, Claude-Pierre; Prince Charles: Horseman, Michael Clayton; The Reality of Monarchy, Duncan; Charles at Fifty, Anthony Holden; The Prince of Wales, Dimbleby, Sunday Times Magazine, “Highgrove,” The Changing Anatomy of Britain, Anthony Sampson; The End of the House of Windsor, Stephen Haseler.
My thanks to Janet Filderman and Anthony Holden for their informative interviews.
Books and press coverage used for reconstructing the Australian tour were: The Prince of Wales, Dimbleby; Charles, Prince of Wales, Holden; Diana, Portrait of a Princess, Jayne Fincher; Australian and British newspapers covering the dates of the tour.
“It does seem about time …”: private interview.
“Outdoing …”: ibid.
“Then suddenly …”: The Wyatt Diaries, Sunday Times, 4 October 1998.
Books and press used as reference in this chapter were: The Tarnished Crown, Holden; The Prince of Wales, Dimbleby; Raine & Johnnie, Levin; Princess in Love, Anna Pasternak; to reconstruct the Washington and Palm Beach tour, Washington Post, New York Times, Newsweek, Time, Daily Mail, Sunday Times, Telegraph, Miami Herald for these dates.
“There is no doubt …”: Holden.
“I don’t believe …”: private interview.
“her fingers …”: Pastemark.
Books and press used as reference for this chapter were: The Definitive Diana, Sally Moore; Diana: In Her Own Words, Morton; Daily Mail; The Prince of Wales, Dimbleby; Wyatt Diaries; Raine & Johnnie, Levin.
“I never saw …”: private interview.
“The Princess of Wales …”: ibid.
“that woman …”: ibid.
“This created …”: ibid.
“You won’t need me …”: Moore.
“Frequently, I feel …”: Dimbleby.
“With steps …”: Levin.
Books consulted and quoted about Queen Elizabeth II were: A Thousand Years of British Monarchy, Bryant; Fall of the House of Windsor, Nigel Blundell and Susan Blackhall; The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy, David Cannadine; The Tarnished Crown, Holden; The Queen, Pimlott.
“She seemed not to smell …”: People, fall (Special Issue) 1997.
“I know how he feels …”: Prince Charles’s housekeeper, Wendy Berry.
“Wills had elected …”: ibid.
“[From that point]…”: ibid.
“Boys …”: Morton, Diana: Her True Story.
Also news articles in the Washington Post, New York Times, Daily Mail, and the Sun.
Books used for this chapter included: Raine & Johnnie, Levin. The Squidgy tape: published transcript, numerous newspapers.
My extreme appreciation to Andrew Morton for the section on his writing of Diana: Her True Story. He generously answered many queries, adding a new insight.
“I’m not saying …”: private interview.
Camillagate tapes: published transcripts, numerous newspapers.
Radio and television coverage was an important aid to the work on this chapter. Quotes regarding Prince Charles’s relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles from BBC transcript, 19 June 1994, conducted by Jonathan Dimbleby. Diana’s quotes 21 November 1994, are also from a BBC transcript of her interview with Martin Bashir. Other comments come from the full reports in The Times and the Evening Standard of these interviews.
“Over the next few months …”: BBC broadcast.
“At first, I wasn’t sure …”: private interview.
“There was a young boy …”: “Diana’s World,” Dennis Oneshots.
“[Charles and I] could have …”: New Yorker, 15 September 1997.
“Diana was greatly disturbed …”: private interview.
“All that blood …”: Diana: A Life and Legacy, Anthony Holden.
“I’d really like to go to China …”: ibid.
Also, my many thanks to Anthony Holden for his long hours of detailed recollections of his meetings with Diana and his years of documenting Charles’s life that might not have been previously included in his publications.
Much of this chapter was reconstructed with the generous help of staff in the al Fayed household in St. Tropez and people with whom Diana came in contact outside the household while in St. Tropez (press, disco staff).
“Hey! Diana!” exchange: Time, 23 July 1997; Newsweek, 15 September 1997.
“I am in love …”: Daily Telegraph, 1 November 1997 (Rosa Monckton).
“a man whose idea …”: Sunday Times Magazine, 2 November 1997.
“… for most of his life …”: Sunday Times Magazine, 16 November 1997 (Dodi Fayed).
“Something told me to save myself …”: AE interview with Janet Filderman.
“Well never forget …”: Rosa Monckton.
Books by Dodi Fayed’s butler, René Delorm, and Christopher Anderson, and abundant newspaper coverage were used to construct this chapter, along with some personal interviews with on-the-spot witnesses.
The descriptions of the cruise on the Jonikal were aided by accounts in Newsweek, 1 and 8 September 1997, Time, 1 September 1997, and the memories of René Delorm who was also on the cruise.
“Dodi was very cautious …”: Sunday Times Magazine, 16 November 1997 (Dodi Fayed).
“She cried one night …”: The Daily Telegraph, 1 November 1997 (Rosa Monckton).
“Och, there goes the Princess of Wales …”: Daily Telegraph, 1 November 1997 (Rosa Monckton).
“That’s it. All over the front pages …”: ibid.
“That’s not what I want …”: ibid.
“and had the most beautiful eyes …”: Sunday Times Magazine, 2 November 1997.
“a visible oneness …”: private interview.
“If you don’t speak to us …”: The Day Diana Died, Christopher Anderson.
Books used in this chapter were: The Day Diana Died, Christopher P. Anderson; Diana & Dodi: A Love Story, René Delorm; and Death of a Princess: The Investigation, Thomas Sanction and Scott Macleod.
Personal interviews were conducted at the Ritz Hotel by the author on 5 December 1997.
Books as in Chapter 24.
On 4 December 1997, I made a careful journey through the Alma tunnel arriving there via the same route as that taken by the Mercedes. A visit was made to La Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital that same day. Newspaper coverage appearing in London, Paris and New York publications from 1 September 1997 to 28 February 1998, was used to reconstruct the day of the crash and the crash, correcting any errors that were made, or suspicions that were later found to be groundless, that had appeared in early press reports or published in previous books.
This chapter was drawn from the dozens of publications (magazines and newspapers) that carried the story of Diana’s funeral. The author also drew from personal recall and notes made at the time of Diana’s death and conversations with many members of the press, who covered the story, and of some of those who were witness to it.
This chapter was helped with the daily news coverage in London and New York from 15 September 1997 to 28 February 1998, and from the transcripts of numerous television interviews with close observers and Spencer family members during that same period.